Slack-adjuster.



W. H. SAUVAGE.

SLACK ADJUSTER. APPLICATION FILED JAN- 25 1 916.

Patented May 29 Cl trout;

mvrran era FATE-1N T WILLIAM H. SA'UVAGE, OF FLUSHING, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB T0 GOULD COUJPLER COMPANY, A CORPGRATION OF NEW YORK.

SLACK-ADJUSTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2&9, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. SAUVAGE, citizen of the United States, and resident of Flushing, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Slack-Adjusters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to slack adjusters for the brake rigging of railway cars and in its more intense aspect to automatic slack adjusters, particularly adapted for use in connection with the brake rigging of car trucks, although it is to be understood that without material modification many features thereof are applicable to the foundation brake rigging near the central part of the car.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an automatic slack adjuster which will be simple and practical in construction. Another object is to provide a slack adjuster of the above general character which will be reliable and ellicient in use and operation. A further object is to provide a slack adjuster having relatively few parts which will be cheap to manufacture and in stall and which may be applied to trucks now in general use without material alteration of the mechanisms therein employed.

Other objects will be in part obvious from the annexed drawings and in part indicated in connection therewith by the following analysis of this invention.

This invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of parts and in the unique relations of the mem bers and in the relative proportioning and disposition thereof; all as more completely outlined herein.

To enable others skilled in the art so fully to comprehend the underlying features thereof that they may embody the same by the numerous modifications in structure and relation contemplated by this invention, drawings depicting a preferred form have been annexed as a part of this disclosure,'

and in such drawings, like characters of reference denote corresponding parts throughout all the views, of which Figure 1. is a side elevation, partly in section showing such parts of a truck: and associated brake rigging necessary to fully understand the present invention;

Fig. :2 is a similar view showing a modification;

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of one of the parts.

4: is a sectional plan view of the permanent take up and holding mechanism.

Referring now to the drawing in detail and more particularly to Fig. 1, 5 denotes a truck bolster provided at one side with a projecting lug (3 to which an adjustable hanger 7 is connected adapted to support the upper end of a dead lever 8. T he lower end of this dead lever is pivotally connected at 10 to the end of an inner member 11 of a two-part telescopic push rod. The opposite end of an outer or casing member 12 is pivotally connected at 13 to the lower end of live lever 14-, the upper end of which is pivoted in a bifurcated loop 15 of push rod 16 connected with the brake power mechanism. This bifurcated loop 15 is provided with a plurality of holes 17 whereby it may be attached to the upper end of the live lever in any one of several positions and is also adapted to act as a stop by coacting with bolster 5 on return to normal position.

Each lever is provided with a brake beam 18 of usual construction and intervening brake beam strut 20. its the levers are moved relatively away from each other on application of the brakes, the brake shoes carried thereby will be brought into engagement with the peripheries of the respective wheels. Each brake beam is also provided with an upwardly pro ecting lug 21 having a transverse headed pin 22 and 25 at its upper end adapted to coact with slots 23 and 23' respectively at opposite ends of an adjusting rod 24. One of these slots is relatively short and moves freely with respect to the pin 22 for the purpose of providing a limited lost motion to insure brake shoe clearance. The other slot 23 is relatively longer and the pin 25 passing therethrough is provided with a friction clamp device adapted to grip the rod 24: which will permit yielding movement in both directions under certain circumstances, but is normally adapted to permit move ment in one direction only and then only an amount equal to the excess travel of the lever 14 and its lower portion passing under the strut 20. Its sides are coiled one or more times about the pivotal point 30 between the live lever and its strut. The parts are so positioned, arranged, and tensioned as to normally assume the position shown on release of the braking power. In other words, on application of the brakes, the angular relation between the strut 20 and the live lever 14 will change to tension this spring 26 which reacts to restore the parts to their normal angular relation or release.

The permanent take up and holding device in the present case comprises one or more dogs 31 positioned within a housing 32 and normally held in canted position by a spiral spring 33 about the inner push rod 11. These dogs are substantially rectangular in shape provided with openings corresponding in shape to the cross section of the pushrod 11, said openings being provided with case hardened edges adapted to bite into the rod 11 and prevent an inward telescopic movement as the brakes are applied. However, as wear takes place, par-' ticularly in the brake shoes, a relative separation of the brake beams would take place and in order to insure substantially uniform relative position of the parts of the brake rigging, the points 10 and 13 separate a proportional amount causing expansion of the telescopic push rod.

By reason of the peculiar location and arrangement of the parts within the housing 32 a free outward movement of the part 11 may be obtained at all times. An inward movement thereof is prevented except when the dogs are intentionally released as by means of release lever 34 which is preferably connected by suitable means to a point at the side of the truck whereby the dogs may be released without requiring a trainman or inspector to go beneath the car. This re- -lease mechanism may be of any desired type, such for example, as shown and described in my copending application Serial Number 74,176, January 25, 1916, adapted to move the dogs to a position normal to the axis of the push rod 11.

The device operates in substantially the following manner: 0n application of the brakes, the upper end of the live lever is moved toward the right which reacts in the usual way on the push rod and dead lever to carry the brake shoes into contact with the peripheries of the adjacent Wheels. If excess travel takes place above that provided for by the lost motion slot 23 a relative slipping of the friction clamp device will occur along the slot 23 as shown more clearly in Fig. 3.

During the application of the brakes, the release spring 26 will be tensioned due to the change in angular relation of the strut and live lever and on release of the braking power, will act to restore the parts to their former position. For illustration, let it be assumed that the brake beam associated with the live lever has moved relatively to the right due to excessive wear of the parts. In order to take up the slack in the brake rigging caused bythis wear, the point 30 will now act as a fulcrum during the return of the parts to normal position, after the shoes have first dropped away from the wheels as permitted by the lost motion slot 23, and a continued return movement of the live lever will cause a relative separation of the points 10 and 13 and consequent elongation of the push rod. This excessive travel of the brake rigging will accordingly be registered upon this permanent take up and holding device in this way.

The operation such as above described is repeated from time to time as wear occurs until it is necessary to replace the Worn brake shoes whereupon the release lever 34 is actuated to move the dogs to transverse position and then by inserting a bar between the wheel and its adjacent shoe, the parts of the push rod may be telescoped an amount suliicicnt to permit a ready replacement of the shoes adjacent all of the wheels.

In Fig. 2, substantially the same. mechanism is shown and it is believed to be unnecessary to go into a detailed discussion thereof. In this modification, however, the

push rod 24 is connected directly with the 7 live and dead levers at the points 35 and 36, the point 35 being provided with a slot 37 for lost motion or brake shoe clearance, while at the opposite end the slot 38 is for the purpose of temporarily taking up the excess travel as the same moves past the friction clamp device 40 adjacent the pin 36. There is also provided a release spring 41 coacting directly between the live lever 14 and bolster 5.

The operation of this device is substantially the same as that above described in connection with Fig. 1.

It is thus seen that the present invention provides a simple and practical automatic slack adjuster having relatively few parts which are inexpensive to manufacture and install. In fact the invention is believed to accomplish, among others, all of the advantages and objects herein set forth.

lVithout further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of this invention that others can by applying current knowl edge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting certain features that, from the standpoint of the prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention, and therefore such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalency of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a slack adjuster, in combination, brake beams, live and dead levers associated with the brake beams, an adjusting rod directly connected with one of said pairs of parts having a lost motion slot at one end and a temporary take up and holding slot at the opposite end and a permanent holding device associated with one of said pairs of parts.

2. In a slack adjuster, in combination, brake beams, live and dead levers associated with the brake beams, an adjusting rod directly connected with one of said pairs of parts having a lost motion slot at one end a temporary take up and holding slot at the opposite end embodying a yielding friction clamp, and a holding device comprising a two-part telescopic push rod connecting the lower ends of said live and dead levers.

3. In a slack adjuster, in combination, brake beams, live and dead levers associated with the brake beams, an adjusting rod di rectly connected with one of said pairs of parts having a lost motion connection at one end and a temporary take up and holding slot at the opposite end, a permanent holding device associated with one of said pairs of parts, and a release spring associated directly with the livelever adjacent its point of connection with the brake beam.

4. In a slack adjuster, in combination, brake beams and struts, live and dead levers associated with the brake beams, an adjusting rod directly connected with one of said pairs of parts having a lost motion connection at one end and a temporary take up and holding device at the opposite end, a permanent holding device associated with one of said pairs of. parts, and a release spring associated directly with the live lever and its strut adapted to maintain a predetermined angular relation between said parts.

5. In a slack adjuster, in combination, with a truck having a bolster and spring plank, brake beams adjacent the plank, live and dead levers associated with the brake beams, a return spring between one of said levers and one of said beams, an adjusting rod between the bolster and spring plank connecting one of said pairs of parts and 6. In a slack adjuster, in combination I with a truck having a bolster and spring plank, brake beams adjacent the plank, live and dead levers associated with the brake beams, a U-shaped return spring acting be tween the live lever and its beam, adjusting rod between the bolster and spring plank connecting one of said pairs of parts, a take up and holding rod connected with said live and dead levers, said last mentioned element comprising a two-part telescopic member, means adapted to coact with the effective ends of said telescopic parts and means adapted to be connected with the side of the car to release said coactive means.

7. In a slack adjuster, in combination with a truck having a truck bolster, a dead lever pivotally supported at one side thereof, a live lever at the opposite side thereof, a pull rod adjustably connected with the upper end of the live lever and provided with a stop adapted to coact with the bolster on return of the parts to normal position, an extensible push rod connecting the lower ends of the live and dead levers, brake beams associated with said levers, and an adjusting rod connecting said brake beams.

8. In a slack adjuster, in combination with a truck having a truck bolster, a dead lever pivoi-ully supported at one side thereof, a live lever at the opposite side thereof, a pull rod adjustably connected with the upper end of the live lev r and provided with a stop adapted to coact with the bolster on return of the parts to normal position, an extensible push rod connecting the lower ends of the live and dead levers, brake beams associated with said levers, and an adjusting rod connecting said brake beams, said adjusting rod being provided with slots at each end, one of which provides for brake shoe clearance and the other of which is adapted to coact with a yielding friction clamp to temporarily take up and hold the excess travel of the brake rigging.

9. In a slack adjuster, in combination, live and dead levers, an adjusting rod connected with said levers having a lost motion connection at one end and a temporary take up and holding mechanism at the opposite end comprising a slot in the rod and a friction clamp coacting with the slot and a permanent take up and holding mechanism positioned between said levers.

10. In a slack adjuster, in combination, live and dead levers, an adjusting rod connecting said levers having a lost motion connection at one end and a yielding frictional clamp device for temporarily taking up the and permanent take up and holding mechexcess travel at its opposite end, permanent anisms.

take up and holding means connecting the Signed at New York in the county of New lower ends of said levers and return spring York and State of New York this 16th day 10 5 connected With said live lever at a point of December A. D. 1915.

above its connections With the temporary WILLIAM H. SAUVAGE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

